Case Study 4: Buprenorphine Induction

Abstract

The case of Stacey is discussed, a 17-year-old female with a severe opioid use disorder who is looking to start buprenorphine. Long-term medication treatment with buprenorphine is an effective and viable option for treating adolescent opioid use disorder. Buprenorphine may be considered safer than other opioid agonist treatments due to its ceiling effect. Ceiling effect refers to plateauing of opioid agonist effects (including respiratory depression) despite dose escalation. While respiratory depression and death may still occur when combined with other drugs (e.g., benzodiazepines), in most cases the benefit of providing effective addiction treatment that incorporates pharmacotherapy exceeds the risks of medication use.